Aging with Care | People Who Need People

Close relationships give us energy, both physically and emotionally. So what happens when we lose these loving relationships?

In my work with the elderly, I know one of the hardest issues faced is the loss of a spouse or a close, long-term friend.

We can lose a person we know through dementia and Alzheimer’s. Then, there’s the unsettling permanence when people pass away.

In the aging, a sensation of loss can also result from the evolution of societal values taking place; this creates a feeling of displacement.

How does one survive these losses? I don’t have the answers; I can only muse and learn from the examples of others.

A friend in her mid-70s shared her story with me. She went to a Seattle high school where nine classmates developed close friendships with one another; she is one of those. These women were and are a vibrant group.